LESS THAN JAKE – Greeting & Salutations

Greetings & Salutations is the latest release from ska-punk veterans Less Than Jake. While this 12-song effort is considered a full length album, the reality is that this is simply their two last EPs – Greetings From Less Than Jake and Seasons Greetings From Less Than Jake — combined into one full-length collection. There are also two unreleased songs that appear on the album, “View From The Middle” and “Flag Holders Union.” Apparently, Greetings and Seasons Greetings didn’t get much attention from the LTJ fan base, as releases were only available online and at live shows. The two releases were also put out by LTJ’s own record label, Sleep It Off — thus limiting distribution and availability.

With Greetings & Salutations being released in the US on Fat Wreck, the hope is to get the newer material into the hands of the fans. Those happy with Less Than Jake’s newer material will appreciate the sound featured here — straightforward rock backed by horns with a touch of ska guitar. For those of you who missed the two last EP releases, this proves to be a great chance to catch up on LTJ’s post GNV FLA material.

(Fat Wreck Chords, 2196 Palou Ave., San Francisco, CA 94124)

THE PLANET SMASHERS – Descent Into The Valley Of The Planet Smashers

It has been six years since Canada’s own The Planet Smashers released their last album, Unstoppable. With their newest effort, Descent into the Valley of The Planet Smashers, not much has changed in their sound. The songs are upbeat and catchy, full of their signature hard-hitting bass line-driven ska-punk, and the lyrics are humorous and lighthearted.

Listening to the 15 tracks featured here, I can’t help but think back and reminisce about the good old ’90s where music like this was being put out on a massive scale. Along with the carefree pop-punk ska sound The Smashers are known for, bands like Buck O’ Nine and early Big D and The Kids Table come to mind when I sit and listen to the material here. The album’s opening cut, “The Hippopotamus,” is extremely catchy, and “UPS of America” presents some social commentary but remains to be humorous and non-preachy.

An unexpected twist comes in at the 12th track in the form of the song “Something Special,” as the band breaks from the punk-ska sound to favor something more traditional in the ska vein.

Descent into the Valley of The Planet Smashers is another enjoyable album from the veteran skankers from the great white north. Fans of the ’90s pop-punk ska sound will dig this.

(Stomp Records, 1223 Blvd. Saint-Laurent, Suite 305, Montreal, QC H2X 2S6 Canada)

BIG D AND THE KIDS TABLE – For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious

I remember seeing Big D live years ago and falling in love with their album Good Luck released back in 1999. Their high-energy punk ska music backed by a kick-ass horn section really made their sound stand out. Then I caught them at Warped Tour about five years ago and realized what I loved about this band had been utterly destroyed — a horn-driven pop-punk band.


For The Damned, The Dumb & The Delirious is a return of sorts to what I enjoyed about this band 12 years ago, although it’s a far cry from Good Luck. “Walls” opens it off with a taste of the older punk ska stylings from Big D, and the carefree fun filled ska feel continues into the next song “Clothes Off.” From here on, the remaining 16 tracks are hit and miss. The song “Best of Them All” comes across as a horn-filled rip-off from fellow Boston lads The Dropkick Murphys. The flow of this album just doesn’t do it for me. Granted, there are some decent tracks, most of which have that older Big D sound — tracks like “Set Me Straight” and “Not Our Fault” — but there are other tracks that just don’t seem to fit. Then there’s the horns — they just seem to lack any real impression, no power and quite lackluster. I just don’t find anything here that excites me, not like the old Big D I used to skank it up to.

(Side One Dummy Records, 1944 N. Cahuenga Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90068)

LESS THAN JAKE – Greetings From…

Doing as they often do, Less Than Jake have released a spur-of-the-moment EP entitled Greetings From… featuring five new tracks.


First thing you’ll notice about this release is that 80 percent of the tracks feature that familiar ska sound we’ve come to know and love. Those who have complained over the years about the lack of horns will be pleased to know that both Buddy and JR are heard blasting away on all five cuts. “Goodbye Mr. Personality,” which has been released by the band for free online, is definitely the catchiest song on this EP. “Harvey Wallbanger,” another pop-rock-driven ska song, proved to be another highlight for this album with more catchy hooks. Things slow down a bit with “Oldest Trick In The Book” before ending with the more upbeat cut “Life Led Out Loud.” Chris takes on a majority of the vocals, with Roger popping in here and there in a few songs.

In relation to where this fits in the LTJ discography of  sound, these tracks are definitely reflective as being post Anthem in feel. No old school Pezcore or Losing Streak feel, but that’s been the case for more than a decade, no shock there. In all, this EP holds water to those expectations from the hardcore LTJ fans. Hard copies can be found at Warped Tour dates across the country at their merch booth, or you can download it at www.lessthanjake.com.

(Sleep It Off Records, C/O Paper + Plastick Records, PO Box 12081, Gainesville, FL 32604)

Show Review: Less Than Jake at the House of Blues, Anaheim 2/21/11

Chris Demakes (Left) and Roger Manganelli (Right) of Less Than Jake

Before setting sail for the Soudwave tour in Australia, Gainesville Florida’s Less Than Jake made their second to last US tour stop at Anaheim’s House Of Blues in front of a jam-packed crowd full of old and new fans alike.

Supporting the release of their latest EP effort TV/EP and the reissues of ’90s punk ska classics Losing Streak and Hello Rockview, LTJ performed a slew of older material that surely pleased the longtime fan in the crowd, but leveled it out with some of their newer tunes. They opened up with “Shindo” and “Sugar in Your Gas Tank” off of Losing Streak and then into “Look What Happened” off of the 2000 release Borders and Boundaries.

For a Less Than Jake show, it was a pretty straightforward. Throughout the years, LTJ have featured some far-out gimmicks and on stage gags that made for a unique concert experience. No dancing Skullman. Chris (guitarist/vocalist) didn’t dress up in any costumes. No crazy stage set ups. The band was fully focused on playing the show, which was never a problem before. I just miss the old days of seeing what crazy gags the band could come up with (although there was a confetti drop during “Plastic Cup Politics”).

Most of the show consisted of songs from Hello Rockview and Losing Streak. I found it quite enjoyable to hear them play “Dopeman” and “Great American Sharpshooter,” as they don’t play these songs live that often. I personally got in the circle pit during “Help Save The Youth Of America For Exploding,” singing the song with fellow fans while mixing it up in the pit.

Musically, the band was on point. Being in the game for nearly 20 years, LTJ continues to pump out shows with the same amount of enthusiasm and musical excellence as they have all along. It’s clear to see that the band is driven by their fans who continue to show up and sing along to songs that still have holding power over a decade after they were originally written in some cases.

During the show, the band played a few cuts from their TV theme and commercial cover EP TV/EP, including the themes to “Spongebob Square Pants,” “Animaniacs,” “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” and “iCarly” (sung by the bassist Roger, in which Chris commented before playing the song, “If you see Roger on ‘To Catch A Predator’ anytime soon, you’ll know why”).

Per a request I personally made during an interview with Chris earlier in the day, they played “Pete Jackson is Getting Married” as a wedding gift to me, as I was only five days away from my wedding date. They told me they hadn’t played it in a long time, but would give it a good “college effort” to get it done. It came out great for not playing it for so long. Thanks again, guys!



An encore included a stripped down version of “Rest Of My Life” which featured Chris on vocals and guitar, JR on backing vocals, and Buddy on trombone. During this performance, they swapped out Vinnie’s bass drum, and it seems they missed the part of the song where the drums kick back in, as Chris appeared to have anticipated it about halfway into the song. At least, that’s how they’ve played this version of this song in the past live. They ended the show with “The Ghosts Of You And Me” off of Anthem.

From being a punk ska band playing frat parties at the University of Florida to 19 years later headlining yet another show in California to a crowd of enthusiastic fans who sing along with their hearts and souls, Less Than Jake still can put on a killer show that aims to please no matter the age of their fans.

LESS THAN JAKE – TV/EP

Anyone who takes a look at Less Than Jake’s discography would see that they clearly have a soft spot for doing cover songs. From Slayer’s “Evil Has No Boundaries” to Cheap Trick’s “Surrender,” Less Than Jake have dabbled more than a few times throughout their 18-year career in covering a unique range of tunes.

TV/EP is an 11-minute and 30-second collection of television theme songs and commercial jingles. This would not be the first time LTJ has covered TV theme songs, as they released a vinyl seven-inch back in 1996 covering the theme songs to “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “Three’s Company,” “The Jeffersons,” and “Happy Days.” TV/EP doesn’t list the themes/jingles covered, but instead lists them as “Channel One,” “Channel Two,” and so forth. Some of the covered theme songs include “Laverne & Shirley” (a cover they released on Losers, Kings and Things We Don’t Understand back in 1996), “Diff’rent Strokes,” “Animaniacs,” “Married With Children” (which is essentially a quasi-cover of Frank Sinatra’s “Love and Marriage”), and “Spongebob Squarepants.” The jingles covered range from the commercial for Hungry Hungry Hippos to the jingle for Kit-Kat candy bars.

While hardcore LTJ fans will dig this as another one of those odd releases to add to their collection of Pez-influenced LTJ paraphernalia (ever look at their vinyl discography?), others will see the release as a one-shot novelty act worthy of only one listen. I think this release might have done better if it was done on DVD or video rather than an audio format – interestingly, a visual aid version of this can be found on the front page of LTJ’s website (www.lessthanjake.com). The covers themselves are nicely done and quite witty, but I don’t see fair-weather fans of Less Than Jake going apeshit over this release. This is definitely one for the LTJ collector.

(Sleep It Off Records, C/O Paper + Plastick Records, PO Box 12081, Gainesville, FL 32604)

MAD CADDIES – Consentual Selections

After 15 years, five full length albums, and a rotating roster of musicians, the Mad Caddies are pulling out all the stops and are finally releasing a “best of” album. Consensual Selections features 22 cuts from the Caddies past plus two new tracks. For those unfamiliar to the the Caddies’ sound, their eclectic ska-punk sound is mixed with various musical influences. From polka (“All American Badass”), to Spanish (“Just One More”), and even pirate dirge (“Weird Beard”), the boys from Solvang, California have remained true to their whimsical yet musically impressive roots year after year, album after album — even if the California ska scene has returned to its underground two-toned cave in recent times.

The tracks selected for this album do a really good job representing the essence of the Mad Caddies. Most of the tracks here focus mainly on the Caddies music after their debut album Quality Soft Core, although they did add “The Bell Tower” and “Preppy Girl” to show off their oldest material (where’s “Crew Cut Chuck?”). “Save Us” and “Why Must I Wait” are two previously unreleased songs, both of which don’t disappoint.

Consensual Selections would be fitting for someone new to the Caddies, but for those who have been singing along with these tunes for nearly two decades, this is a fine tribute to one of the best third-wave ska acts to come out of the Golden State.

(Fat Wreck Chords, PO Box 19360, San Francisco, CA 94119)

STREETLIGHT MANIFESTO - KEASBEY NIGHTS

It's time to jump into your time machines back to 1998 for this release. Actually, this is a re-recording of KEASBEY NIGHTS performed by members of Catch 22 and New Jersey's own One Cool Guy. Bringing it back to 2006, Streetlight Manifesto has reformed not as a side project but as a full-time band. With this re-recording, it's safe to say they plan on reliving those third-wave ska memories. This album is jam-packed with catchy, upbeat punk-ska. Their sound resembles that of many Southern California ska acts of the '90s such as The Scholars and Jeffries Fan Club. Let the critics say ska is dead-I'm sure Streetlight Manifesto will be at the head of the line ready to prove them wrong.

(Review originally appeared in the May 20063 issue of Skratch Magazine)